Kingdom Hearts Online - Hacked
by Thalassa Promise
Summary: Welcome to Kingdom Hearts Online, a virtual reality MMO where Kingdom Hearts is brought to life. It's a dream come true for longtime fan and roleplayer HeartofLight, at least until he inadvertently takes down a top-ranked hacker using his controversial "counter-hacks." But what happens when Light joins the mod team as a second Sora? And what is the mysterious IRL hack plaguing KHO?
1. Welcome to KHO

"Hey Sora?"

Though the music was still swelling all around them, Sora paused, his hand still in Kairi's, arm around her waist. He had been very careful not to step on her shoes or her dress, and thought he'd been doing pretty well. Had he made a mistake without realizing it?

"Is… something wrong?" he asked.

Kairi's face reddened and she looked over his shoulder. He decided to mirror her and avert his gaze a moment. The gymnasium was still filled with other couple swirling around in a slow and (dare he think it?) romantic dance. Despite how much he hated school, this whole dance thing had actually been working out.

"N-No, not at all!" Kairi stammered, still avoiding his eyes. She started to step back, so Sora began to release her waist. She paused, and her free hand slid down to his arm to stop him.

"I'm… just a bit warm," she continued, and her blushing intensified. "Do you think we could step outside for a minute?"

"Sure!" Sora said, perhaps a bit too eagerly. Kairi laughed lightly and took hold of his other hand. They smiled at each other a moment, then made their way out of the gym. Sora couldn't help but keep his eyes on his date as they left, though he was pretty sure he saw Riku giving him a thumbs up out of the corner of his eye.

Once outside, the music faded away and the pleasant evening breeze instantly cooled them down. Despite his physical body feeling cooler, his face still felt on fire. When he glanced at Kairi, he saw her cheeks were still burning red as well, perfectly matching her hair. The thought made him blush harder.

"Sorry," Kairi said abruptly, using her free hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I was having a really great time. I just think this dress was making me light-headed."

"That's okay," Sora grinned. "I was having a good time too. But… er, well it wouldn't be very fun if you passed out!"

Kairi laughed. "I agree! I'd like to enjoy my evening conscious, thank you very much!"

The pair chuckled and looked away from each other, staring up at the sky. All was quiet, save for the faint melody wafting out from inside, and the chorus of crickets keeping them company. Sora was ever-aware of Kairi's hand still in his. Was this the longest they'd held hands, ever?

"One sky, huh?"

Kairi's voice broke the silence, making Sora's blue eyes fall on her instantly. She was still staring at the sky, but a brilliant smile spread across her face.

"Yeah," Sora said, his throat suddenly dry. "One destiny."

Kairi laughed softly and looked at him. "You remembered."  
"Of course I did! How could I forget? Without you reminding me of that, Riku and I could still be—"

"Let's not talk about that," Kairi interrupted him, looking down. Sora could have kicked himself. Why ruin such a regular, normal night with a stupid comment like that? He couldn't be bringing up the saving the worlds stuff when they were trying to be regular teenagers.

There was an awkward silence now, and Sora was sure he had blown it. Why did he always have to go for the dramatics? Even if it wasn't extravagant, he was always brining up darkness, or the Keyblade, or Heartless. Transitioning to a normal life was harder than he'd thought. Riku and Kairi didn't seem to have any problem with it, to his surprise, so what was his problem? Had it really affected him that much?

"I'm really glad you're here."

Kairi's voice brought him back to earth again, and he found that her blue eyes were lined up perfectly with his. Her smile was so soft, so faint that unless he'd seen it in her eyes, he might have missed it. She was definitely beautiful tonight, at least, more so than usual.

"I'm glad I'm here, too," he replied, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Especially since I get to be with you."

A silent laugh shook Kairi's shoulders, and very subtly, the distance between them began to close. Sora's heart pounded loudly in his chest, and he was sure she could hear it. It was deafening him, but instinctively he reacted, scarcely tilting his head and lining it up with hers. He didn't think his face could get any warmer as it came closer to hers, mere inches separating them.

Very suddenly, Kairi had stepped back and straightened up, her face blank. Sora's brow furrowed and he too straightened up, trying to process what had just happened. There was a series of groans, he looked past Kairi to see a handful of people peeking out of the gymnasium, spying on them.

"Did her internet have to go down _right now_?" one peeper asked. He was short with dark blue hair and green eyes. Standing next to him was an equally short girl with bright pink hair and crimson eyes to match, and she just shook her head.

"No, that's a pause, I can tell," she replied.

"Screw the timing though," Riku said, leaning on the door frame. "How many months have we been waiting for this?"

"Would you guys can it?" Sora muttered, folding his arms. "As soon as she unpauses, we can probably continue. If you don't totally kill the mood."

"Ooo, Sora's _eager_ ," Riku teased, and the group laughed despite Sora somehow managing to turn a few shades darker.

Kairi blinked and shook her head, still blushing.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "It's my parents… they caught me still up."

The group groaned again, and Sora's shoulders drooped.

"You gotta go?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Kairi replied. "But, um… maybe we can pick up the RP tomorrow? If you guys don't mind waiting on me."

"I think it'd be pretty hard to skip ahead at this point, and explain everything away—" Sora began.

"Oh stop making excuses, Light," Riku chided. "You just wanna kiss her."

Sora's face turned the same shade as a tomato.

"N-No! I just think it's an integral part of the narrative, that's all!" he argued, but everyone was sniggering.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, Princess," the blue-haired boy interjected. "We can pause here. We'll find something else to RP tonight, no worries."

"Thanks, Ito," Kairi replied, then her hand hovered to her temple. She looked up at Sora through her lashes, still slightly pink. "See you guys tomorrow."

"Good night, Princess!" the assembled group called, and with one last lingering look at Sora, she disappeared.

The five peepers joined Sora outside, a ragtag group of young adults with an assortment of hair colors and styles. Aside from Riku, Ito, and the pink-haired Midnight, there was a Roxas and Namine as well. It was Roxas who spoke first, putting one hand up to his temple and another to a hologram keyboard that appeared in front of him.

"So I can take down the dance decorations for the night then?" he said, starting to tap away.

"I guess," Sora mumbled, making Roxas snort.

"I'll save the code off, don't worry," he smirked. "You'll get your kiss."

"Would you guys leave me alone about that! Geez, it's just a roleplay."

"But it's cuuuuute!" Midnight giggled. "And we've been waiting for that SoKai moment forever!"

"Give him a break, guys," Namine said softly, then waved a hand around herself. Her extravagant white dress faded into a black T-shirt and ripped jeans, and her hair turned to a purple pixie cut. She no longer looked anything at all like Namine. "Anyway, you guys have fun. I think I'm gonna go grind out some EXP at Halloweentown."

"G'night, Yuki," Riku said, giving her a casual salute. She mockingly curtseyed and then faded away much like Kairi had.

"So am I setting up another Destiny Islands mod or what?" Roxas asked, raising a blonde brow at the assembled.

"Hmm… sure," Sora shrugged. "What haven't we played with lately?"

"Some kind of sparring," Riku suggested. "We haven't done PvP in a while."

"That's because you and Light always kick our asses," Ito mumbled. "You're like 600 levels higher than us."

"But Ito! The cap is only level 50!" Midnight gasped.

"Hyperbole, Midnight," Ito sighed.

"Eh, just set up a general Destiny Islands day mod," Sora suggested. "We'll figure out what to do when we get there."

Kingdom Hearts Online had only been up for six months, but it was arguably the best six months of Light's life. At least, Light was the nickname his online friends had given him, based on his full username, HeartOfLight. It was hard to get simple usernames in such a popular MMO, even if he had been one of the first people to make an account.

Part of the reason Light loved KHO so much was the fact that it was a Kingdom Hearts MMO. What was not to love? He could visit the worlds in the game, interact with real Disney and Final Fantasy NPCs, and even wield a personalized Keyblade. Not that it looked personalized; he tended to prefer the standard Kingdom Key skin. When it came to customization, Light tended to keep it simple: His avatar was always cosplaying Sora in some form or fashion, and why not? Where else in the world could he ever really become the Keyblade Master?

Another reason KHO had become a huge part of his life was because of the technology it wielded. Even though he had followed it since its announcement, the GameOVR (which stood for Game Optimized Virtual Reality) and how it functioned was still largely a mystery to him. It was just a simple headset he could slip on while sitting in a chair, lying in bed, wherever, but it quite literally transported him into a digital world. The signals it sent to his brain made him see the sights, smell the smells, and even feel the breeze on his face. No one was sure where Square Enix had been hiding this hardware, but everyone sure was glad they'd finally released it, and with a Kingdom Hearts launch title no less.

But the biggest reason Light loved KHO was because of the friends he had made. Having been an active roleplayer well before the days of the GameOVR, Light had accumulated quite a gaggle of enthusiastic and nerdy acquaintances, some of which he'd brought with him to KHO when he'd first joined. Among them were Princess_Kai (Nickname: Princess, Character: Kairi), InsertWittyUsername (Nickname: Witty, Character: Riku), and ~Yukimoto-Rain~ (Nickname: Yuki, Character: Namine). The others had come along later, joining one of the many roleplays Light and his group had started: ItoChairo (Nickname: Ito, Characters: an OC named Kusa and occasionally Leon), MidnightMoon35 (Nickname: Midnight, Character: another OC named Zalaria), and Scattered_Dreams86 (Nickname: Scat, Character: Roxas).

Unfortunate though it was, the simple hobby of roleplaying wasn't as easy as it was on a forum-based website. First of all, finding all the right skins and hairstyles was difficult, and when some of them had to be bought with the in-currency, that took some intense grinding. That was probably half the reason Light and Witty were at the current level cap, the other half being that they were naturally competitive and completionists to top it all off. But secondly, and probably most importantly, play-acting in real life, even in virtual reality, was a lot more taxing and involved than simply typing words on a screen. It took some practice, and a lot of humility.

It was a lucky day that Scat had joined their team. Scat had some great code-sense about him, and was a whiz when it came to crafting up private servers for their RPs. He could customize locations, NPCs, enemies, anything they could ask for, based on the foundational code provided for each world in-game. It gave them a good deal to work with, and kept them away from any trolls that might try to interfere.

All things considered, there were a lot of things Light and his friends _could_ do in KHO, like defeating Heartless in all the worlds to complete NPC quest and gain incredible collectibles, or competing in the player vs. player Olympus Coliseum to improve their ranking and get rare rewards, or even just sight-see in all the fantastic worlds at their disposal. But there was just something so incredibly immersive and empowering about roleplaying that Light could never get away from. He needed it, thrived on it. The things they did in a roleplay, _that's_ what felt real. That wasn't something he was just going to get bored of anytime soon.


	2. Enter the Hacker

"Can we _please_ do something PvP?" Witty groaned, plopping down onto the sand with a _thud_. Light raised a brow and looked down at him, folding his arms over his chest.

"All you ever do is whine about PvP," he commented. "Why don't you just go to Olympus Coliseum and do some PvP there?"

"What's the point?" Witty sighed. "I don't want any of the skins and I don't care about rankings."

"Because you want challenging PvP so bad," Ito suggested, kicking around a coconut Scat had spawned.

"I don't understand what the draw of player versus player is," Midnight hummed. "I just like going to all the Disney worlds. I don't think fighting is even necessary in this game."

"Did you even play Kingdom Hearts?" Witty remarked, sitting up. Midnight reddened, and Witty smirked. He knew he was right. In response, Light kicked some sand at Witty's side.

"Lighten up," Light scolded. "Any Disney or Final Fantasy fan is more than welcome here. You know that."

"I just think it's weird so many people play KHO without playing at least one KH game."

"And I think you're weird for your obsession with PvP, but you don't see me kicking you off our server."

"Good thing, too, or else I'd kick your ass and take all your stuff on the public server."

"You and what army?"

Witty stood up, arms tight to his side, jaw clenched. Light just rolled his eyes.

"I know you're looking for a fight, Wit, but if you're hoping to find it here, keep looking."

"What's the matter? Scared I'll beat you?"

Light knew where this argument would go. Witty would coax him into summoning his Keyblade, they'd spar each other into a draw, and both be exhausted for nothing. He decided to ignore the silvernette.

"So about that RP," he began. "I was thinking we could pick up where we left KHIII."

"We can't continue KHIII without Yuki and Princess!" Midnight exclaimed.

"Sure we could. Both Kairi and Namine are off training to be Key-Bearers," Light countered. "Besides, if we don't get a move on, that game will come out before we get too far into the RP!"

"You just want me to be Xehanort so you have an excuse to kick me around," Witty snorted. Light ignored him.

"So what do you say? Let's get started!" Light clapped his hands and beamed. "Scat, set up the mainland!"

"Roger that, sir," said Scat, and a keyboard appeared before him and he started tapping away.

"But I don't want to be Xehanort right now," Witty whined.

"That sounds like a personal problem," Light shrugged.

"Why don't we have Sora and Riku train first? A friendly, open-ended spar?"

"Here he goes again," Ito sighed. "Come on, Midnight. Let's go make Key-Bearer costumes for Kusa and Zalaria."

"Ooo new costumes! I'm down!" Midnight cheered, and the pair put their hands up to their temples. They stood there a moment, but nothing happened.

"Hmm… what gives?" Midnight muttered. "I can't access my customization screen."

"Scat, stop screwing around for a sec so we can at least log into our customizations," Ito said. Scat looked up at him, mildly perturbed.

"I'm not doing anything that would interfere with that," he replied. "It's probably a bug with the server. They've been happening a lot lately."

"Then make a better server," Ito snapped. Scat just rolled his eyes.

"You wanna do it?"

"Uh… no thanks. I'll leave the nerd stuff to you."  
"Says the guy who plays a VR Kingdom Hearts game and roleplays all the time."

"Takes one to know one!"

As Scat and Ito went back and forth, Witty had summoned up his Keyblade and was waggling it in Light's face.

"Come on, _Sora_ , don't you want some practice fighting the darkness?" he prodded, the Way to the Dawn inches from Light's nose. Smirking, Light fell into character.

"Cut it out, Riku," he returned. "Besides, you're not really the darkness anymore. I know you wouldn't use it just for fun!"

"Hmph, caught me red-handed. But I don't need darkness to beat a runt like you!"

"Alright, fine, but just one match!"

"Unless I lose!"

Light had just summoned his Keyblade when he heard sniggering not too far behind him. He knew Ito was going to give him a hard time about giving in to Witty's PvP desire, so he turned to make a comment. To his surprise, Ito was not standing behind him. Instead, it was someone he had never seen before. He was a tall man, with short, slicked back gray hair, and a black, tailored suit. His hands were in his pockets and he stood tall, much taller than Light. Light peeked around him to see Ito and Midnight staring at him with confused looks, and Scat was frantically typing on his keyboard.

"Uh, hi?" Light said, turning to face the newcomer full-on. "Are you… er, one of Scat's friends?"

"Scat? What kind of childish username is that?" the man sneered.

"You must be Witty's friend then," Light said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Witty shouted. "And besides, I've never seen that guy in my life!"

"I can't access his profile!" Ito said.

"Or his username!" Midnight chimed in.

"That's part of his profile…" Ito reminded her.

Light's brow furrowed and he took a step back from the man. Scat was still frantically typing away on his computer. There were two possibilities: One, Yuki had logged back into their private server and was really trolling them. Two, someone had hacked their way onto their server.

"Look, Mr. Mystery Guy, I'm not sure how you found your way onto our server, but you'd be more than welcome to stay if you'd like," Light began. "But it _is_ a little weird that your profile isn't showing up—"

"Tch, I don't want to stick around on your silly little roleplaying server," the man chortled. "I'm just paying a quick visit."

"Yeah, checking out the surrounding servers is a great way to get acquainted with KHO," Light quipped back shortly. "Usually people start with _public_ servers, though."

The man laughed, and he raised a brow. His eyes darted around, as though he was looking at something Light couldn't see. He then turned swiftly on his heel.

"HeartOfLight, Level 50, Specialization: Melee," he rattled off. "And your inventory is full of crap. Boring. Now let's see… Ah. MidnightMoon35, Level 5, Specialization: Magic. Nice Orichalcum+ pulls you got recently. You wouldn't mind sharing, would you?"

Light looked over his shoulder at Witty, who was mirroring his own expression. The concern was etched clearly in their faces; the content of another player's inventory was not viewable to other players, unless some very illegal hacks were in use.

Midnight, Ito, and Scat, on the other hand, were both mesmerized and shocked into stillness by the newcomer's seemingly endless wealth of knowledge. Light acted first, darting around the strange man and putting himself between him and his friends.

"Glad you've got some kind of Xray Hack activated, but I'm afraid you're not gonna be able to use that here," Light said tensely. "How about you go ahead and log yourself off before I report you? This is me asking nicely."

"Report me? Ha! You don't even know my username," the man laughed. Well, he'd caught that bluff, so he couldn't be a new player. "I really don't want to waste time with you, so just let me KO your little friend, take the loot, and I'll be on my way."

"Scat, lock PvP for this server," Light ordered. A small squeak emitted from Scat's throat.

"I can't," he replied. "I can't modify the server at all. I think that guy locked me out!"

"Looks like I've found the brains of the operation," the man sneered. "Guess I'll put you on the list to loot from as well, if only to delete all your source code."

"Fat chance!"

Witty roared from behind the man, Keyblade raised as he dived in for an attack. But the man was quick, side-stepping the blow and practically teleporting several yards to the side. His hands never left his pockets. Witty was not to be discouraged or deprived of his PvP, and so he struck again. The man teleported around effortlessly, and despite Witty's best attempts to predict his movements, he always seemed to be a second too late.

After the seventh round of this, which Light had spent ushering Ito, Midnight, and Scat further down the beach and into the treehouse for safekeeping, the man yawned and stretched.

"Okay, this is boring now," he mumbled, then raised a hand at Witty. "How about you pause?"

There was a slight glitch in the system, where the world around seemed to flicker for a moment, and suddenly Witty stopped moving. His eyes darted around, but he said nothing and didn't move a muscle. Light's brow furrowed and he hopped down from the treehouse, still able to move freely.

"What did you do to him?" Light demanded, grip tightening on his own Keyblade.

"A simple Freeze Hack," the man replied. "It will last until I take damage, which will never happen thanks to my Invincibility Hack. Unluckily for me, both of you two have no good loot on you. Surprising, for a couple of max levelers. What do you do here? Your silly roleplaying games all day?"

"That's none of your business," Light growled. "If you know what's good for you, you'll unfreeze him and get out of here. Don't you have something better to do than to pick on non-hostiles?"

"No, not really. I mean, I usually loot from whoever I come across, but when I see a private roleplaying server, I can't help myself. I indulge. I can't stand pathetic LARPers."

The man pivoted himself to face Witty again, and a black Keyblade materialized into his hand. It was sharp, with a blade as sharp as a knife. It was covered in red gemstones, but other than that was remarkably unmemorable. No doubt it was modded from Leon's gunblade, an item supposedly available to only NPCs due to its imbalanced power.

Before the man even jumped at Witty to attack, Light's hand had flown to his temple and he began tapping away at a keyboard that had appeared in front of him. Seconds later, time seemed to slow down around him, and Witty very slowly began to react to the assault. But there wasn't nearly enough time.

Light dashed forward, moving at full speed as the rest of the world dragged on around him. He hooked his arm in Witty's, yanking him out of the way as the hacker hurled himself forward in slow motion. As Light and Witty spun back around to face him, time returned to normal.

The man looked dazed for a moment, then turned back to Light and Witty, frustration worn plainly on his face. Witty just looked at Light, confused.

"What the hell was that?" both Witty and the hacker asked in unison.

"Don't worry about it," was Light's reply. "So, Hacker Friend, you were leaving right?"

The man laughed softly, shaking his head, and his body relaxed. That didn't cause Light to loosen a single muscle, however, and he kept his eyes locked on the hacker as he released Witty's arm. The man looked up, sticking a hand in his pocket, and his eyes started darting around again. Light took the opportunity to rush him, swinging hard at his chest and pushing a good few feet back with the blow.

The man grunted, doubling over, but he wore a smirk on his face.

"Invincibility Hack, remember?" he sneered. "Didn't hurt a bit, and my HP's still at 100%. Not yours, though."

He raised his hand at Light, and very suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his chest. In his peripheral, he could see his HUD's HP instantly start dropping at an alarming rate. Gritting his teeth, Light flashed his hand to his temple again and started typing away, and the HP stagnated at 50%. The man's eyes narrowed and he lowered his hand.

"How are you—" he started.

"A Drain Hack? Really? You have a world of hacking possibilities and you hit me with a Drain Hack?" Light shook his head. "A Regen Hack counters that with hardly any effort. And it runs indefinitely. Try again, buddy."

The man stared at him, bewildered, but he didn't let it phase him for too long. He let out a growl and charged at Light, swinging hard with his blade. Light caught it with his own Keyblade, pushing him off with hardly any effort.

"Strength-buff Hacks aren't gonna cut it either," Light chided. "You're going to have to be more creative."

"Listen here you little shit!" the man snarled, backing up. "You think you're cool because you can hack too? I'll report your ass!"

"Go for it. I'd love to see the username attached to the report," Light shrugged. "I have a lot more witnesses on my side. And no, KOing them isn't going to change their statements, so don't even think about it."

"Alright, if you're so damn good, how come you haven't booted me yet?"

"Because I'm still trying to figure out who you are." Light's eyes were darting across his own personal screen now, browsing his own code. "If I boot you off, you can just go torment some other non-hostiles or newbies. We can't have that."

"That does it!" The man stomped his foot, making Light look away from his code, prepared for another attack. However, the hacker put his hand up to his temple and raised a hand toward Light. "CMD\InitiateHackIRL!"

"What the fu—" Witty started, but the hacker was already launching himself at Light before he could hear the rest.

The flurry of blows the man hurled at Light wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting, but it was something he could keep up with. There were certainly advantages to being a skilled player, after all. At this point, though, the hacker was merely taking out his frustrations. His Drain Hack had deactivated long ago, and Light's Regen Hack had already restored his health to 100%. Even if he took a hit or two, his health would go back up in no time. Now it was just a matter of wearing the guy out so he let his guard down just long enough for Light to find his user information and report him…

Light made a small misstep and had his weapon arm thrown back by a particularly hard hit form the hacker. He brought up his free arm, ready to block his core from taking the brunt of the damage. When the gunblade mod struck his arm, he expected the usual dull pain sensation simulated by the GameOVR headset. What he received was about a thousand times more excruciating, making him cry out and fall backwards.

The burning pain in his arm was unlike anything he'd ever felt. It was like he had quite literally taken the full force of that weapon slicing his arm, and though there was no blood in KHO, he could almost feel a warm liquid running down from the place he'd been struck. It had been enough to disorient him for a second, but only just.

The man had taken too much pleasure in landing a hit, and had given Light far too much time to recover. Light rolled to the side to avoid the hacker's next strike, and he stood in the same, fluid motion. Spinning around, Light's Keyblade connected with the man's back, hitting him hard and knocking him to the ground. He sputtered, rolling into the sand. Light didn't give him a chance to even blink before he had planted a foot on his weapon arm, and pointed the Keyblade in his face.

"Profile info. Now," he demanded. The man struggled, but eventually found that no amount of resistance was going to save him now.

"CMD\Disengage," he muttered quietly, then a username flickered over his head. _Belfix_ , it read.

"Belfix, huh?" Light mused. "No numbers or special characters? You must be an original. Dang, what a shame you're about to lose everything."

"The report's already been sent," Scat said from above, still hanging out in the treehouse with Ito and Midnight. "The moderators should be here any second."

"So what was that CMD nonsense?" Light asked, digging his foot a little harder onto Belfix's arm, making him cringe.

"The CMD nonsense?" Witty repeated. "What about you?! What about your hacking nonsense, period!?"

"Isn't hacking grounds for permanent banning?" Midnight chirped quietly.

"Only if you get caught," Belfix mumbled. "So congrats man, you got me, but you got yourself, too."

"This is a private server," Light replied. "No footage, but you've got five reports on you for entering a private server uninvited, which is very obviously hacking. And you've got nothing on me."

"Except four witnesses."

Light looked up at his friends. He had to admit, they were all looking at him very differently. His face fell, but only for a moment.

"They're my friends," he said. "I think they'll understand."

"For now," Belfix said, and there was a hum as someone entered the server.

Standing on the other end of the beach was perhaps the most gorgeous Kairi cosplay avatar Light had ever seen. Rendered in meticulous detail, down to each strand of hair, the Kairi came towards them, her eyes locked on Belfix. Gold text hovered above her head, reading _[Moderator] Kairi._ Light very suddenly felt like he had just taken another Belfix attack to the gut.

"Belfix?" she asked, looking at him. He seemed to freeze at her voice. "We've been looking for you for a while."

"Glad to hear I'm so wanted by you, Miss," he snorted. "Perhaps we can talk it out."

"Perhaps not." Kairi turned her gaze to Light. "Step back, HeartOfLight."

Light was so surprised to hear her say his username in the most perfect Hayden Panetierre impression he'd ever heard that he almost didn't register the words she'd actually said. She raised a brow at him and then it hit, and he quickly jumped back.

Kairi summoned her Keyblade and a light shined from its tip, then enveloped Belfix as he stood.

"No, wait!" he exclaimed. "I can explain! It was… this kid! He made it look I was hacking this whole time! I was just—"

He was gone before he could even finish. Slowly, Scat, Ito, and Midnight came down from the treehouse and joined Witty and Light's side. They all appeared a bit dumbstruck, but Kairi simply flipped her hair over her shoulder and dismissed her Keyblade. She took a deep breath, then turned back to them.

"Sorry about him," she said, her tone much softer now, and even her expression had become kinder as she looked them over. "That was Belfix, one of KHO's most wanted hackers. I'm glad you all seem to be okay. Did he KO anyone? We can restore their inventory and levels if we're lucky."

"Nope!" Midnight beamed. "Light took care of him before he could do that!"

Light must have turned a little pink, because Witty snorted.

"Is that so?" Kairi said, turning her eyes to Light. She looked him up and down slowly, and he had to do a mental check to make sure he wasn't in his underwear or something otherwise embarrassing. "HeartOfLight… you defeated him on your own?"

"I mean, Witty here helped—" Light started.

"Oh no, don't think you can put this off on me," Witty interrupted. "That guy did a Freezer Hack or whatever you called it on me two seconds into the fight. If it weren't for you, I'd be back at Level 1 right now."

Kairi's eyes never left Light.

"So you single-handedly apprehended Belfix?" she repeated.

"I… er… guess so…" Light's voice was very tiny.

"Impressive." But she didn't sound impressive. She sounded passive, at best. At worst, almost cold. "HeartOfLight, I'd like for you to come with me."

She turned quicky and opened a hand in front of her. A portal appeared, shining white like a giant star. She turned back to Light and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Well, go on," she said.

"Uh, actually, I think I need to log off," Light stammered. "My parents are—"  
"HeartOfLight, I insist."

Light glanced at his friends from the corner of his eyes. Their faces were a mixture of excitement and concern.

"O-Of course," Light managed, then dismissed his Keyblade and stepped forward. He walked into the light, letting its warmth envelope him, abundantly aware that Moderator Kairi was right behind him.


	3. The Offer

It took a moment for Light's eyes to adjust after emerging from the portal of light. He could have been walking into a white room filled with spotlights and still not been able to see, with how bright the portal was. Soon enough, though, he was able to make out his surroundings. It was a place he recognized from the games well, a mysterious tower atop a grassy hill. They were surrounded by stars and space clouds, and all was still.

Light had heard rumors about a canonical Yen Sid Tower, but he'd never been able to confirm it. Glancing back at Moderator Kairi and seeing how confidently she strode forward, he was sure this had to be her turf. Was it a special server, reserved only for moderators and administrators? It was certainly possible. But he didn't have much time to process it, as Kairi passed him and cast him a disapproving glance at his gawking. Lowering his head, Light picked up the pace and followed her up the stairs and into the tower.

The pair was silent as they walked, and Light kept his eyes plastered to the stairwell in front of him. He didn't really want to look up anyway. If it was anything like it was in the games, there were a lot more stairs ahead of him than he wanted to think about climbing. He glanced up once or twice, though, because he couldn't help himself, and he was glad he did the second time. Had he not, he might have run right into Kairi.

"You can wait here," she said, still not turning to look at him. Light swallowed and nodded. "I'll be right back. Don't try logging out or anything; you'll just respawn here if you do. Someone has stayed awfully late to meet you, too, so it'd be rude to just leave."

Before he could question what that meant, the crimsonette disappeared through a door, which shut with a loud _thud_. Light twiddled his thumbs for a moment, then decided to start browsing the room he'd been left in. It was an exact replica of one of the chambers in the Mysterious Tower from the games, right down to the books on the shelves. Curiosity getting the better of him, he went to one and tried to pick it up. To his surprise, it came loose of the shelf and practically fell open in his hands. Inside was a language he couldn't read, but he smiled anyway. The amount of effort that had gone into recreating this world – such a small and relatively unappreciated one – was amazing, and he found himself falling in love with KHO even more.

"HeartOfLight?"

Light's heart almost popped out of him at the sudden sound of Moderator Kairi's voice again. He still wasn't used to it, even though she had probably addressed him at least five times now.

"Yes?"

"Come on. Someone wants to talk to you."

Light swallowed again, unsure of what that was supposed to mean. Based on her terse tone, he couldn't imagine it was too good, but he stepped forward anyway. Emerging from the chamber, he found another flight of stairs leading straight up rather than winding around, and another set of doors. The two proceeded through it, ending up, not surprisingly, in Yen Sid's study.

Light was again caught off-guard when his eyes fell on an old sorcerer sitting behind the desk in the center of the room, a long, dark gray beard stretching from his face, and a blue, pointy hat decorated with stars and moons sitting atop his head.

"Master Yen Sid," Light gasped, bowing his head in complete instinct. He didn't care if he looked a fool to Kairi if this was just an AI-controlled NPC. He'd never met Yen Sid before.

"Ah, so you must be HeartOfLight," Yen Sid said, making Light look up again. "Excellent. Come, step forward."

Light did as he was told and stood just in front of the desk, facing Yen Sid. Kairi walked around him and stood beside the old wizard, her eyes now trained on Light rather than avoiding them as they had before. Light couldn't help but feel he was being scrutinized, but there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it.

"So, Kairi tells me you are the one who apprehended one of our most wanted hackers," Yen Sid continued, and Light's face reddened. "For that, I cannot thank you enough. I deeply apologize for any trouble he may have caused you and your friends."

"It's no big deal," Light heard himself saying before he could formulate something more respectful. "Wh-What I mean is, we handled it alright. Er, I mean, it's not your fault."

Yen Sid held up a hand, making Light stop stammering around.

"Ah, but it is quite a big deal," the wizard corrected him, then chuckled. "But how rude of me, I haven't properly introduced myself, or this lovely young lady beside me. HeartOfLight, I am one of the admins of Kingdom Hearts Online, and the Western liason for the Kingdom Hearts Online team. I suppose it would be simplest for you to just call me Yen Sid. And this, of course, is one of our moderators, taking the role of Kairi."

"It's an honor, Master Yen Sid, Kairi," Light replied, bowing to each of them as he addressed them.

"Now, despite your insistence that apprehending Belfix was no large matter, there is still the discussion of your reparation for handling this matter," Yen Sid continued, and Light raised a brow. "What I mean to say is, you have earned a few accolades, rewards if you will. You have greatly helped the Kingdom Hearts Online community, and you should be honored as such."

Light waved his hands frantically.

"Oh no, I couldn't accept that," he replied quickly. "I was just doing what I needed to, to keep my friends safe. It's really not a big deal—"  
"We've been looking for that hacker for weeks," Kairi interrupted. "He was our—no, my responsibility. If I had caught him alone, I would have been rewarded. I think it's only right that you get that reward instead."

"I couldn't—"  
"Please, Light, I insist. We both do."

Light fought the redness on his face hard, enough that it was barely visible.

"I really don't need anything, though," he said quietly.

Yen Sid chuckled, then waved his hand over his desk. A large book appeared, but rather than pages, it seemed to have a screen. The sorcerer flipped through it, pausing every so often.

"Let's see here," he began slowly. "Ah, here we are, HeartOfLight. Member since April… So you were one of the first to join, eh? A longtime fan, no doubt. Hmm, here I see you were placed in the top 20 in the Olympus Coliseum for two weeks straight in May, and first place twice as well, once in June and another in August. You have 80% quest completion and reached level 50 in early July." Yen Sid paused and looked up from his book to meet eyes with Light. "You are quite right. There isn't a whole lot I could offer you, is there?"

"Moderators are given bonuses based on their hacker captures," Kairi suggested. "I'd be willing to give him my bonus as a direct transfer—"  
"You don't need to do that for me!" Light exclaimed, taking a step back. "If you hadn't come around, I'd probably still be fighting with that guy. Yeah, maybe I got him to hold still for a bit so you could come in and do your stuff, but you're still the one who took care of him for good! I could never do that!" Kairi and Yen Sid were looking at him now, their expressions interested. "Honestly, just getting to come here, and to interact with the real Kairi mod, and meet the admin of KHO West… That's enough! I'll remember this forever! It's all the reward I need!"

There was a silence that Light identified as awkward, though Kairi and Yen Sid seemed to spend it just exchanging looks between him and each other. Surely they were deciding what to do with him, and he wished they would just go ahead and dismiss him. As amazing as this experience had been, he wanted to get out. He needed to get out before they did too much digging in his file, found out he was nothing but an RPer these days, that he hadn't contributed to the community in a month. Really, he wasn't anything remarkable, and his track record was less than perfect. He didn't want to lose what he had…

"Well, I believe it's decided then," Yen Sid said at once, forcing Light's attention to him. "As there are no physical rewards you are willing to accept, then perhaps I could offer a position."  
"Position?" Light repeated.

"Quite right. Someone of your skill is hard to come by. Whatever methods you used to apprehend Belfix could no doubt be of use to our moderators. So, I would like to extend the invitation to you to join their ranks."

Light stood there a moment, jaw slightly ajar, awed. Had he just been asked to become a moderator? Moderators were some of the most respected people on KHO. Not only did they play the parts of the Keyblade Wielders and their friends and enemies, but they were some of the best players in the community. Not only that, they were tasked with bringing order to the site and always behaving as closely as possible to their respective characters. In short, they were highly regarded roleplayers, though probably no one saw them that way except for Light himself.

"Now, it doesn't have to be full-time," Yen Sid continued. "Kairi informed me that your parents were already requesting you get offline, and I'm sure I've kept you on long enough. But as you have responsibilities outside of KHO, we would not expect full attendance. However, you could assist our moderators in tracking down hackers, ensuring safety in KHO. It's the least we could offer."

"But beating Belfix was sheer dumb luck," Light said weakly. To his surprise, Kairi scoffed.

"Hardly," she quipped. "We've been tracking him for weeks and anytime we've ever gotten close, he's gone without a trace, and the people who reported him are back at Level 1. It doesn't matter whether they're new or vets, they're eradicated every time. You getting out of that isn't just luck. Whatever you did, you have skill, and we need you to share it."

Her sapphire stare bore into him, and for a moment he was sure she could see straight through him. Her gaze didn't waver, and though he expected it to be hard, it wasn't. It was much softer than her tone, not pleading, but genuine. Her request came from the heart.

"But… how would that work then?" Light asked hesitantly. "I thought you guys had filled all the moderator positions? Unless someone was gonna quit."

"No, you are right, we do have a full team," Yen Sid acknowledged. "But I think we can fudge the reality just a bit to make room for you. Judging by your avatar, despite your inventory, I see you must be quite a Sora fan."

Light laughed sheepishly. There was no point in arguing it now, he supposed.

"Although we do currently have a Moderator Sora, I'm sure we could make room for one more. Besides, we have the Kingdom Hearts 1 model sitting around. We were going to use it for an event later on, but I think it would suit you better, don't you think?"

"Are you for real?" Light asked. Yen Sid laughed.

"Absolutely. Before I transfer your account, though, I will need some information about you for your paycheck."

"Paycheck?" Light became flushed. "Uh… that won't be necessary! Really!"

"In- game currency, then? Free labor seems a little less like a reward and more of a punishment."

"In-game is fine," Light said quickly, averting his gaze. He was sure he saw Kairi's brow furrow.

"In-game it is, then," Yen Sid replied. "Now, I will be needing to make some adjustments to your account, to give you permissions to enter the private moderator servers and such. It will take a while. Why don't you go ahead and log out for the night? I'll have Kairi find you tomorrow to give you a tour."

"Are… you sure about this, Master Yen Sid? I mean, what if I'm just a flake, and I did get lucky?"

"I am a wise man, HeartOfLight. And I also trust Kairi's judgement. I think you will do just fine. Now go on, enjoy your evening, Mr. Light."

"Y-Yes sir! It was an honor, sir! _Is_ an honor! I, uh, won't let you down!"

Light took a couple hesitant steps back, but Yen Sid was already looking down, flipping through his book and making adjustments. Light put his fingers to his temple and opened a menu, then clicked _Log Out_. The last thing he saw before the game closed was Moderator Kairi, looking at him, unreadable.


End file.
